High Court Happenings: July Event Recap

This July in Tribeca, we introduced a new kind of social house, offering a glimpse inside what we’re working on through a four-day event called High Court Happenings.

The short-term experience – a version of what is coming early 2017 – was a unique opportunity to meet potential members and bring the concept to life. We illustrated the fundamental reasons why we are creating High Court in the first place – a beautiful third space to call your own, socialize differently, work on personal projects, practice wellness, and our favorite part – enjoy intelligent leisure.

High Court partnered up with some of our favorite makers and creatives to fill the space and create a unique marketplace to find new things, including our future design partners Bower. We also brought together objectsfrom Good Thing, furniture from Dane Co, healthy snacks and superfood “dusts” from Moon Juice, home essentials from Snowe, zines from Packet Biweekly and our friends at Wax Studios, luxury athleisure wear from Live The Process, juice from Lulitonix, crystal candies from Sweet Saba, and some #youngandcentered things of our own – among many others.

Where do we begin with the programming? Each day was modeled after what a typical day at High Court will offer, with yoga and meditation, beautiful open court space to hang, and exclusive workshops, speaker series and evening events designed to make each member the most informed person at their next dinner party. The turnout for everything offered was enthusiastic, smart, and most importantly, curious.

The first three editions of our Intelligent Leisure sessions, presented over the course of the week, were each designed with a different intention, but the same audience in mind – the High Court member.

Wednesday’s panel talk 'Stages Of Starting Up', featured founders and leaders from across the lifecycle of a startup, including retailer Snowe, e-commerce art dealer Uprise Art, finance and startup vet Divya Narendra, and our co-founder Colleen. This was followed by a cocktail reception with our friends at Uprise Art, for their brilliant photographer Ryan James MacFarland, where we saw for the first time our vision of collaborating with other creatives in the city come to life in a really fun way.

Thursday’s panel talk 'Alternative Realities' – featuring Milica Zec, VR filmmaker and long-time collaborator with Marina Abramovic, Christina Bechhold, director of strategic investments at Samsung Global Innovation Center, Tracy Chadwell, partner at 1843 Capital, and freelance stylist and art director, as well as High Court’s design advisor and friend, Margaret Williamson Bechtold. Here we led a discussion about the future of filmmaking and commercial pursuits with virtual reality and augmented reality, to a packed house that was a great mix between experts in the field, passionate hobbyists, and of course, curious listeners there for the beer and a dose of culture.

Finally, on Saturday we sat for a casual conversation in the living room with two of our favorites – Nicole Steriovski, co-founder of Local Creative and Alissa Wagner, co-founder of Dimes in Chinatown – to candidly discuss the new "high-end health" movement, and how design impacts their businesses. What we loved about this round-table style Intelligent Leisure session was it's quick, easily digestible timing while sitting comfortably with friends in a living room, learning a little about something new or interesting to you.

Watch out for all of these discussions to be the first up in our podcast series 'High Court Intelligent Leisure', premiering this summer.

What we loved about these evenings were the simple moments talking about something new and interesting with our friends and new friends – which is what we feel is one of the biggest draws to membership at a place like High Court.

Beyond these new opportunities for socializing differently, we also offered the time and space to hang out by yourself. Our open court times brought entire teams out of their office space for meetings in a refreshing environment, and individuals quietly working from laptops in the living room.

Every morning and afternoon yoga class brought in a mix of men and women, at all levels in their practice. Still, it was the most exciting for us to see these busy professionals stay for a bit before or after class to continue their conversation with someone who they took class with, or open their laptop and check back in with their desk while remaining chilled out.

This has always been the ambition for creating High Court, and watching it come to life to such great reception made the entire event worth every crazy moment it took to make it happen.

We have so much more to share from the event over the next few weeks, either in the form of podcast or more pieces here, as every day brought so many new experiences. We will also use this time to stay in touch with all of our interested founding members and new friends from the event, and those who will find us afterwards, and continue to carefully build the High Court community over the next few months leading up to our full launch next year.

This is such an exciting time for us, and we hope yourselves as well, and we look forward to staying in touch.